explain xkcd - User contributions [en]

2803: Geohydrotypography

2023-07-19T15:44:53Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 2803
| date = July 17, 2023
| title = Geohydrotypography
| image = geohydrotypography_2x.png
| imagesize = 339x389px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = The Atlantic is expanding at about 10 ppm (points per month).
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by a LOGOGRAPHOTYPOHYDROGEOIST - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

This comic is another entry in the "[[:Category:My_Hobby|My Hobby]]" series of comics.

{{w|Plate tectonics}} is the understanding that the Earth's lithosphere is divided up into separate 'plates', which carry the continents and (in the case of the Atlantic) are slowly moving apart under geological action that mostly drives the respective coastlines away from the deep centre of the ocean. Here, Randall explains that if the surface of the Atlantic Ocean were covered in a certain size of printed text (as if its surface were a giant sheet of printed paper, which it is not{{citation needed}}), the shifting of the continents would increase the amount of text by about 100 words per second.

[[Randall]] says that his hobby is geohydrotypography, which is a compound of 'geo' (from the Greek for earth), 'hydro' (water), 'typo' (type) and 'graphy' (a descriptive science) - in other words, the arrangement of letters, words and symbols on the water surfaces of the earth. He may mean that he enjoys studying such arrangements, and/or that he likes arranging such text himself.

The title text reports the rate of the ocean's expansion, about 40 millimeters per year, in points per month. A point in typography is 1/72 of an inch, or 127/360 =~ 0.3528 millimeters. The expansion sideways would steadily allow more characters on the first line (and thus intermittently more words, 'unwrapping' the first word seen on the next line) and cascading this effect onto every subsequent line spread out vertically along the roughly 13,000km (depending upon your choice of limits) North/South 'height' of the writing medium.

The initialism PPM has {{w|PPM|many possible interpretations}} other than the fanciful "points per month". Two interpretations that would be relevant to the situation in the comic would be "parts per million" which can refer to the amount of a substance dissolved in water such as the oceans, and "pages per minute" which refers to the speed of printers.

The exact calculation needs various assumptions. Font families of a given well-defined vertical size/separation can each exhibit varying general widths of character, and be subject to various possible degrees of [[kerning]], depending upon what precise choice of text is made (unless using a strictly a fixed-width font). The spacing between successive lines would need to be chosen. The word that does (or does not) have to be wrapped at the first line-break can affect which groups of words may (or may not) need to wrap on subsequent lines, in a cascading effect that can create almost chaotic changes from just a single reassessment. However, the {{w|law of large numbers}} would likely minimize the effect of this variability, such that an estimate from known averages would yield a result with a very small amount of relative error.

The exact extent of the Atlantic Ocean can also be differently interpreted: where it meets the Southern and Arctic oceans, whether to include bordering 'seas' such as the Gulf of Mexico and Mediterranean and Caribbean Seas, what to do where the 'text' may have to cross/break-across islands (e.g., the Bahamas, Azores, etc., some of these being treated as Atlantic boundaries with the comic's relatively much larger size of "ocean text"), possibly even whether to track the precise tidal inundations at the coastlines at any particular moment. All these factors, and more, make it difficult to precisely define the total number of characters (and thus words) that would fit, though the annual increase in the approximate area of the ocean could allow us to assume some approximately greater number of characters (based upon an approximation of their average page-area requirements) which could be divided by the approximate number needed for a general corpus of words (and its spacing) to determine the approximate additional text that could now be added for any given span of time. Knowing Randall, he has used the best approximations that he could find and determined that the possible cumulative errors were not unacceptable.

Note that the text as it appears on the globe in the comic is not 12 point, but instead is close to 1.5 billion point.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[A depiction primarily of the Atlantic Ocean and the surrounding landmasses. The land is black, leaving the oceans and seas white except for the following words written in sixteen lines of text (from just below the tip of Greenland/Arctic Ocean down to slightly above the Falkland Islands/Southern Ocean) that are, for the most part, wrapped between the Atlantic coastline 'margins' (as defined by the Americas on the left and Europe/Africa on the right, or significant island groups:]

:If you
:covered
:the surface of
:the Atlantic Ocean
:with twelve-point
:printed text,
:with the lines
:wrapping at
:the coasts, the
:expansion of
:the ocean basin
:due to plate
:tectonics would
:increase your word
:count by about 100
:words per second.

:[Caption below the panel:]
:My Hobby: Geohydrotypography

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:My Hobby]]
[[Category:Maps]]
[[Category:Geology]]
[[Category:Language]]

1849: Decades

2023-06-16T17:10:38Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */ Consistency of apostrophe. No plural usages, adding (pre-)contraction for two digits of four, expand ambiguous contractions (it is/it has). Also seemed too broad to suggest across the board discarding.

{{comic
| number = 1849
| date = June 12, 2017
| title = Decades
| image = decades.png
| titletext = In the 90s, our variety radio station used the tagline "the best music of the 70s, 80s, and 90s." After 2000, they switched to "the best music of the 80s, 90s, and today." I figured they'd change again in 2010, but it's 2017 and they're still saying "80s, 90s, and today." I hope radio survives long enough for us to find out how they deal with the 2020s.
}}

==Explanation==
From the 1960s to the 1990s, it was common to group eras by decades. Fashion, music, and other cultural trends that changed relatively quickly were often defined by those decades. People casually and commonly referred to "the sixties", and so on, to separate these periods.

This pattern broke down after 1999, because it didn't naturally lend itself to an analogous phrase for the year from 2000-2009. A number of different terms have been proposed and used: "the {{w|Aughts}}", and "the naughties" had been used for 1900-1909, but have an archaic flavor that never really caught on. "The "{{w|2000s}}" and "the millenium" are ambiguous and clunky. None of these terms ever became popular enough to become a consensus term. Similarly for the period from 2010-2019, terms like "the 2010s" and "the teens" have been used, but not widely accepted.

The practical upshot of all of this is that verbally splitting time periods into clear decades simply became less obvious for the periods since 2000. While people still refer to earlier time periods by decades, it is far less common to do so when referring to recent years. The roll-over text gives the example that we still refer to "music of the '80s and '90s", but rarely refer to "music of the 2000s" or something similar.

The time-line in the comic stretches into the future (as of the time of publication), and uses question marks to present uncertainty over whether the decade-grouping trend will return in the 2020s. On the one hand, such was a well-established custom, and we once again have clear language for it. On the other hand, after largely abandoning the custom for 20 years, it is far from certain that people will adopt it again.

What isn't mentioned in the comic, but may be relevant, is that, in the absence of those decade categories, it has become more common to refer to time periods and the people who grew up in them by somewhat arbitrary generational categories: Baby Boomers, Generation X, Millenials, Gen Z, and so on. This has provided an adequate substitute, since youth culture in the 2000s and 2010s has been more commonly defined as {{w|Millennials#Cultural_identity|millennial culture}}". There are drawbacks to this (both because the terms are more loosely defined, and because they often come with negative connotations), but these trends may have become sufficiently ingrained that they could displace the older decade-based divisions.

The title text gives the specific example of [[Randall]]'s local radio station dividing music by decades, and points out they simply started talking around the decades from 2000 to 2019. He implies that whether they resume this pattern in the 2020s will be a good indicator of whether this speech pattern will resume, but expressed doubt whether radio will last long enough to find out. This is a jab at the radio industry, which has been in decline for a long time as it has faced increasing competition from other communications technologies. While it is unlikely that the radio industry will cease to exist in the near future, further decline seems probable.

Twenties were discussed again later in [[2249: I Love the 20s]].

==Transcript==
:[A timeline across the top of the box marks decades from 1960 to 2030, the labels are above the line and the ticks marking each decade are below.]

:[Label: 1960]
:60s Music; 60s Fashion; 60s Movies; 60s Culture

:[Label: 1970]
:70s Music; 70s Fashion; 70s Movies; 70s Culture

:[Label: 1980]
:80s Music; 80s Fashion; 80s Movies; 80s Culture

:[Label: 1990]
:90s Music; 90s Fashion; 90s Movies; 90s Culture

:[Label: 2000 and 2010]
:[Items grouped over two decades.]
:Fashion; Culture; Music; Movies

:[Label: 2020]
:[The text is in light grey font.]
:20s Music?; 20s Fashion?; 20s Movies?; 20s Culture?

:[Label: 2030]

:[Caption below the panel:]
:It's weird how for 20 years we stopped grouping our cultural memories by decade because "2000s" is ambiguous and and "Aughts" and "Teens" never really stuck.

==Trivia==
*Randall has by mistake, written "and and aughts" in the caption for this comic, instead of "and aughts".

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Timelines]]
[[Category:Time]]
[[Category:Music]]
[[Category:Language]]

Talk:2785: Marble Run

2023-06-07T10:04:08Z

172.70.86.153:

Sorry if this is a mess (it's my first time editing). [[User:ProgrammerG|ProgrammerG]] ([[User talk:ProgrammerG|talk]]) 22:02, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
:It's honestly much better than anything I could have done. [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 22:04, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
::Hey, it's all good. Not sure what you wrote (as opposed to anyone else that then pounced upon it, before I first saw it), but we have our own Rube Goldbergesque way of bashing it all into a (largely) mutually-approved shape. I think I spot some further changes I'd like to make, so I'm going to dive back in in a moment, but it has to start somewhere!
::...the only big picky thing I'd say (to whoever did this, here or elsewhere recently), is that its fairly standard to note use the <code><nowiki>[URL link text]</nowiki></code> format when you can use the hand {{template|w}}-template to write <code><nowiki>{{w|Wiki article title|link text}}</nowiki></code>, instead, and often this lets you miss the "<code>|link text</code>" part out because the Wiki article title ''is'' the link text you want. I mean someone <s>who died whilst</s> creating a template to make this more streamlined, ought to have their work put to good use... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.21|162.158.74.21]] 23:36, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
Added Citation-needed for pacincko inspiration. I mean, I think the order of appearance is even wrong for that to be possible.[[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 00:04, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
:Hold it. Is this an actual citation needed, or a sarcastic one? If it's a sarcastic one, keep it as is, but I don't think it is. If it is an actual one, then use this tag.{{Actual citation needed}} [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 02:58, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
::I read it as an ACN instance (thought as much myself, but hadn't then done basic checks), and the above statement reinforces the feeling.
::*Use <code><nowiki>{{Citation needed}}</nowiki></code> for "this is so obvious, it'd be funny to say it isn't" situations. And sparingly! ...like, you don't even need one in every single article, never mind several in a single paragraph, because it then just becomes a "who can put a CN in every article/paragraph first" competition, rather than a considered bit of humour (which others might consider is better elsewhere/not there because of their own ideas about that, of course). There are exceptions where maybe over-use ''is'' the point (self-referentially in the Wikipedian Protestor article, arguaby), and long and complicated comic descriptions might have many opportunities across a large number of sub-sections for which choice CNing can pop up in a wide sample of their mini-explanations. Although you will find that it's perfectly possible to go too far and thus a later editor decides that none of them deserve to remain, even the genuinely well placed one(s).
::*Use <code><nowiki>{{Actual citation needed}}</nowiki></code> for genuine 'proper' use of tag, as per elsewhere. Again, sparingly. If you know it's a wrong fact, best to factualise it (or contextualise it, where there's vital nuance that you're aware of) whenever you can. "Begging the question" (an ambiguous phrase, but either use of it) should be considered a stop-gap. Perhaps you intend to return and phrase your doubts properly when you have confirmed your objections/suspicions (or, otherwise, can remove it).
::And also put it ''after'' the punctuation. <code><nowiki>e.g. following any comma,{{like here}} and not displacing the punctuation{{like here}}. (Although it can be tricky for some cases.{{here is fine}} But it probably needs a rewrite, anyway, if you're left with a tricky question of placement.{{like here?}}){{or here?}}</nowiki></code> ...but if you're not trying to shoehorn the tags in, beyond reasonable use, if you can't decided how it looks best then perhaps that means that it also has no point being there, which just reinforces my earlier suggestion on constraint.
::YMMV, but then (OtherPeople's)MMV too. So things tend to settle down to the compromise consensus where it just works nicely enough for everyone. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.153|172.70.86.153]] 09:58, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

Talk:2785: Marble Run

2023-06-07T09:58:57Z

172.70.86.153:

Sorry if this is a mess (it's my first time editing). [[User:ProgrammerG|ProgrammerG]] ([[User talk:ProgrammerG|talk]]) 22:02, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
:It's honestly much better than anything I could have done. [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 22:04, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
::Hey, it's all good. Not sure what you wrote (as opposed to anyone else that then pounced upon it, before I first saw it), but we have our own Rube Goldbergesque way of bashing it all into a (largely) mutually-approved shape. I think I spot some further changes I'd like to make, so I'm going to dive back in in a moment, but it has to start somewhere!
::...the only big picky thing I'd say (to whoever did this, here or elsewhere recently), is that its fairly standard to note use the <code><nowiki>[URL link text]</nowiki></code> format when you can use the hand {{template|w}}-template to write <code><nowiki>{{w|Wiki article title|link text}}</nowiki></code>, instead, and often this lets you miss the "<code>|link text</code>" part out because the Wiki article title ''is'' the link text you want. I mean someone <s>who died whilst</s> creating a template to make this more streamlined, ought to have their work put to good use... ;) [[Special:Contributions/162.158.74.21|162.158.74.21]] 23:36, 5 June 2023 (UTC)
Added Citation-needed for pacincko inspiration. I mean, I think the order of appearance is even wrong for that to be possible.[[User:RandalSchwartz|RandalSchwartz]] ([[User talk:RandalSchwartz|talk]]) 00:04, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
:Hold it. Is this an actual citation needed, or a sarcastic one? If it's a sarcastic one, keep it as is, but I don't think it is. If it is an actual one, then use this tag.{{Actual citation needed}} [[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|Trogdor147]] ([[explain_xkcd:Community_portal/Miscellaneous#Help_with_Creating_a_User_Page|talk]]) 02:58, 7 June 2023 (UTC)
::I read it as an ACN instance (thought as much myself, but hadn't then done basic checks), and the above statement reinforces the feeling.
::*Use <code><nowiki>{{Citation needed}}</nowiki></code> for "this is so obvious, it'd be funny to say it isn't" situations. And sparingly! ...like, you don't even need one in every single article, never mind several in a single paragraph, because it then just becomes a "who can put a CN in every article/paragraph first" competition, rather than a considered bit of humour (which others might consider is better elsewhere/not there because of their own ideas about that, of course). There are exceptions where maybe over-use ''is'' the point (self-referentially in the Wikipedian Protestor article, arguably, and long and complicated comic descriptions might have many opportunities across a large number of sub-sections for which choice CNing can pop up in a wide sample of their mini-explanations) although you will find that it's perfectly possible to go too far
::*Use <code><nowiki>{{Actual citation needed}}</nowiki></code> for genuine 'proper' use of tag, as per elsewhere. Again, sparingly. If you know it's a wrong fact, best to factualise it (or contextualise it, where there's vital nuance that you're aware of) whenever you can. "Begging the question" (an ambiguous phrase, but either use of it) should be considered a stop-gap. Perhaps you intend to return and phrase your doubts properly when you have confirmed your objections/suspicions (or, otherwise, can remove it).
::And also put it ''after'' the punctuation. <code><nowiki>e.g. following any comma,{{like here}} and not displacing the punctuation{{like here}}. (Although it can be tricky for some cases.{{here is fine}} But it probably needs a rewrite, anyway, if you're left with a tricky question of placement.{{like here?}}){{or here?}}</nowiki></code> ...but if you're not trying to shoehorn the tags in, beyond reasonable use, if you can't decided how it looks best then perhaps that means that it also has no point being there, which just reinforces my earlier suggestion on constraint.
::YMMV, but then (OtherPeople's)MMV too. So things tend to settle down to the compromise consensus where it just works nicely enough for everyone. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.153|172.70.86.153]] 09:58, 7 June 2023 (UTC)

2782: Wikipedia Article Titles

2023-05-29T14:32:45Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */ Sidenote, as I meant to stop editing already!

{{comic
| number = 2782
| date = May 29, 2023
| title = Wikipedia Article Titles
| image = wikipedia_article_titles_2x.png
| imagesize = 402x439px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = I would never stoop to vandalism, but I'm not above discreetly deleting the occasional 'this article contains excessive amounts of detail' tag.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by MERYL STREEP'S SECOND SEAGULL - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

Meryl Streep is a famous and often acclaimed actor, for whom there is definitely {{w|Meryl Streep|a Wikipedia page}} covering her various biographic details. It may be that Randall normally has little interest in reading this page, when finding a link to it. But certainly he appears to have less interest than he would have of reading more about the seagull, for which a page also exists; albeit as an automatic redirect to {{w|Gull}}, as "seagull" is a commonly used colloquial misnomer verging on being a tautology. Both these pages are located at up at the "slow end" of the line indicating how quickly his interest would be grabbed, one unlabelled 'unit' apart, though we don't know how many real things might appear outside this page (top or bottom), so we only a have the rough idea of his priorities when opportunities arise to read such info.

Two more units down from the seagull, he hypothesises the article entitled "Meryl Streep (Seagull)", which would seem to be significantly more likely to succeed as {{w|clickbait}}. A further three units beyond, is a page which clearly describes an "incident", which hints heavily at something less mundane than merely (e.g.) a one-time participation in the {{w|The Seagull|Anton Chekhov play}} that was somehow deserving of a wikipedia page/section-redirection of its own.

Perhaps this is an incident in which a seagull notably caused Meryl Streep problems. ''Or'' a time when Meryl Streep notably caused problems for a seagull. Or perhaps both of these, or other variations, in multiple incidents as the ''final'' imagined wikipedia page is a {{w|Disambiguation (disambiguation)|'disambiguation page'}} of this, which is a further four units 'quicker' to be clicked upon. Such a page is only necessary when there are multiple possible articles of sufficiently similar name that may need to be documented seperately to avoid confusion. However, the titles of disambiguation pages rarely appear in links -- you generally only reach them as a result of a search for an ambiguous term (as you would if you searched for "seagull"). So the notion of clicking on this is paradoxical.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:[Chart title:] Hypothetical Wikipedia article titles
:[Chart subtitle:] Ranked by how quickly I would click on them

:[A vertical axis with eleven evenly spaced positions marked along it, without units or magnitudes]
:[An abbreviated arrow to the left of the axis indicates that downwards is:] More quickly
:[Alongside the topmost checkmark:] Meryl Streep
:[Alongside 2nd checkmark:] Seagull
:[Alongside 4th checkmark:] Meryl Streep (seagull)
:[Alongside 7th checkmark:] Meryl Streep seagull incident
:[Alongside 11th, and final visible, checkmark:] Meryl Streep seagull incident (disambiguation)

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2777: Noise Filter

2023-05-18T23:45:25Z

172.70.86.153:

Took me a moment. It is very on-point for me. Randal proposes a sound level meter in such as Google reviews. Showing the real-time racket in a restaurant or other venue. Just this week I walked out of a new TOO-LOUD restaurant. I wish this feature existed! It is not total fantasy. Any Android cellphone "could" report location and sound-level to its masters.

I'm autistic. I would have liked this feature since I was first going places on my own.
[[Special:Contributions/162.158.2.167|162.158.2.167]] 02:31, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Hear hear! (Pun intended.) There are several restaurants my family won't go back to because they're too loud. One was PAINFULLY loud - well over 80 dBA. Hmm. Maybe I should take my sound level meter with me next time we eat out, and put the readings into a review. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.214|172.70.110.214]] 12:24, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

I interpreted the title as a pun on noise filters that block out ambient noise. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 14:13, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

How long until another of Randall's xkcd "jokes" becomes real? [[Special:Contributions/108.162.216.173|108.162.216.173]] 15:09, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

I would like one for temperature, some places are just too damn cold. [[User:SDSpivey|SDSpivey]] ([[User talk:SDSpivey|talk]]) 18:40, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

Should the explanation include recent news articles about how restaurants are louder than they were a few decades ago? Such as https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2018/11/how-restaurants-got-so-loud/576715/ and https://www.popsci.com/story/technology/restaurant-noise-levels-solutions/ [[Special:Contributions/172.69.65.46|172.69.65.46]] 20:13, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

: I think it should. Good get.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.91.35|162.158.91.35]] 22:12, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

The thing that gets me is the different radio/checkbox/range selection techniques being used. Almost like the same UI designer didn't add each subsection into this bit of the interface.
*Obvious "radio"-like choice for the opening Hours. You choose one or other presets ("Any"/no preference, "Now"/current status) or a probable pop-up dialogue ("Open at...") for date/time of more flexible choice or range.
*Rating that's also "radio"-appearing, as a way of giving the single minimum acceptible value for Rating.
*The slider which implies the single ''maximum'' acceptible value for noise level. Could have been set up similar to that with Rating (though clearly needs more than the six guide-labels as buttons, and "<=value" rather than "value+").
**The version for Party Mode would have been like the minimum for Rating, both of which could either be "top-down selected" sliders or this bottom-up one but reverse-labeled. Or "number+" buttons.
*Buttons of a multi-select/checkbox type for Price choice. Not visually different from 'radio buttons', except for that they have been multi-selected... perhaps the real thing in the appropriate interface-tk would show more rounded/square button profiles. Or give another clue as to whether selecting a second would add to/replace anything previously selected in that grouping. But it ''could' have been a range-type choice for "up to", really.
**Or a double-slider, to accomodate minimum and maximum, allowing mid-sub-range "$$+$$$", if not "$+$$$$" for only extremes. Or a slider and separate toggle between whether the slider is bottom-up and top-down.
**But would you ever anticipate split-range choices? And also to what relative quantities do the given numbers of $s map onto, subjectively?
It shows that the design decisions involved weren't part of the same holistic design-time process. (This is not a comment against Randall's compositional choices, he's clearly parodying the actual "options"-type configuration screens that you get. Consciously or unconsciously replicating ''their'' design and implemention inconsistencies.)
 But thought it wasn't really worth a main-page explanation about, just thought it worth an extended comment in here for possible passing interest of others. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.153|172.70.86.153]] 23:45, 18 May 2023 (UTC)

1740: Rosetta

2023-05-18T09:30:46Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1740
| date = September 30, 2016
| title = Rosetta
| image = rosetta.png
| titletext = I WONDERED why he kept asking whether we thought the impact speed was too low.
}}

==Explanation==
On the day this comic was posted (September 30th 2016), the ''{{w|Rosetta (spacecraft)|Rosetta}}'' mission ended with the final descent of ''Rosetta'' onto the comet {{w|67P}}. Landing Rosetta on the comet gave the scientists ([[Ponytail]], [[Megan]] and [[Hairy]]) a chance to collect extra data from very close to the comet, using the spacecraft's powerful sensors.

[[Cueball]] however [[1339: When You Assume|assumed]] that the landing was a "{{w|Asteroid_impact_avoidance#Kinetic_impact|kinetic impact}}" mission to deflect a comet that was on a collision course with Earth. A similar scenario (but using a nuclear weapon implanted inside of the asteroid to deflect it) was depicted in the 1998 film ''{{w|Armageddon (1998 film)|Armageddon}}'', of which Cueball is apparently a fan. ''Armageddon'' is a high-throttle action movie, [http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2010/01/nasa-uses-the-movie-armageddon-in-their-management-training-program/ infamous among NASA employees] for its incredibly liberal application of artistic license. [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120591/goofs#factual_error IMDb has a list of factual inaccuracies].

In reality, at the time ''Rosetta'' landed, 67P was already leaving the inner solar system and was [http://sci.esa.int/where_is_rosetta/ a long way past Earth]. It will return to the inner solar system in around 5 years' time, but its orbit will not pass close to the Earth in any foreseeable time.

Also, as the title text hints, Rosetta's speed was only [https://astronomynow.com/2016/09/30/rosettas-final-hours/ 90 cm per second] relative to the surface at the moment of impact (or about 2 mph/3.25 km/h; the speed of a slow walk), while the comet was traveling at 14.39 km/s. Given that Rosetta only weighs a couple of tons (or [[1461: Payloads|six horses]]), and 67P weighs nearly 10 billion tons (or 22 billion horses), Rosetta's landing will have no actual measurable effect on the comet's momentum. Cueball however, thinking they were trying to deflect the comet, would have thought the impact speed would need to be higher.

''Rosetta'' (and its lander, ''Philae'') were previously the subject of the comics [[1402: Harpoons]] and [[1446: Landing]], and were mentioned in [[1461: Payloads]], [[1547: Solar System Questions]] and possibly [[1621: Fixion]].

==Transcript==
:[A control room with Megan and Hairy sitting on stools in front of an opposite desk with computers. Hairy has his arms in the air. Ponytail is standing between them with Cueball, she is watching Megan and he is looking at Hairy.]
:Megan: Signal lost.
:Megan: ''Rosetta'' has impacted the comet.
:Ponytail: Good work everyone.
:Hairy: ''Woooo!''

:[Zoom on Ponytail, still looking at Megan and Cueball who has turned towards Ponytail.]
:Cueball: So.
:Cueball: Do you think we deflected it?

:[Ponytail turns to Cueball as does Hairy who turns and looks away from his computer.]
:Ponytail: Huh?
:Cueball: Did we hit the comet hard enough to deflect it away from Earth?

:[In a frame-less panel Ponytail talks with Cueball.]
:Ponytail: That... Is that what you thought we were doing?
:Cueball: I just assumed...

:[Megan enters whispering in Ponytail's ear, holding a hand up to her mouth. Ponytail still looks at Cueball who raises his arms up in the air.]
:Megan: He's a huge ''Armageddon'' fan. Let him have this.
:Ponytail: Okay, fine.
:Ponytail: Yes! We did it! The Earth is saved!
:Cueball: ''Wooo!''

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Fiction]]
[[Category:Space probes]]

User talk:Malgond

2023-05-14T08:11:46Z

172.70.86.153: /* Terrible spam attack on your user page */

Hey, thanks for replying to my table project. I wanted to let you know that I replied to your comment:
>''[...] ... I think it shall be somehow reflected in the table. For example: one column for Message (a value always present), another for Item name (may be empty) and another for Effect (may be empty). Unfortunately, the spreadsheet does not contain the kind of visual representation (a dot, a star, a star with a dot inside, or none at all).''
Yeah I noticed that too, but tbh I don't think it's SO important that needs to be included in the table or even in the entire page. Also, it would be very time-consuming.
> ''the Explanation column is currently a short description (of a planet) and some of its features, the way to get there, only sometimes containing an explanation of what the planet name refers to. These should be separate.''
I don't think they should be separate, because it would mean that the table would get even bigger and navigating it would be harder. You're welcome to add any information in the explanation section, as I'm not editing its contents.
> ''explanation for the Message/Item of "11 squares packed into a larger square" shall have a reference to [[2740:_Square_Packing]] and a short description of the mathematical problem involved.''
I totally agree, and as I said in the initial message (above the table), I plan on adding item-specific explanations next to the item "names".
> ''I also think we may need separate tables for planets (with very general descriptions and directions), features on the planets, possibly one table per planet (containing architecture, vegetation, animals, people etc. - if worth noting or there's some pun or reference), items and messages to be collected by the player (maybe one per planet), and for words spoken by the people and messages written somewhere (again, only if they contain a pun or a reference).''
I'm sorry but the amount of effort I'm putting in this ''"simple"'' table is already IMMENSE. I hope you understand that this would probably require dozens of hours between exploration and formatting. I won't be doing that myself, that's for sure :)

By the way, do you know where to find the coordinates of each planet? Thanks, [[User:FaviFake|FaviFake]] ([[User talk:FaviFake|talk]]) 13:58, 29 April 2023 (UTC)

== Cosmetic suggestion ==

All those <code><nowiki>[[wikipedia:Page_link|Link text]]</nowiki></code> examples, in your rapidly expanding table 'sandboxing', would fit better (from an editing POV) with the {{template|w}}-template we try to use universally for wiki links. Such as <code><nowiki>{{w|Page link|Link text}}</nowiki></code>. (Noting also that the underline/space issue is largely irrelevent in both, under most circumstances, with pipe-delimiting. It's only <code><nowiki>[url://server/various_folders/whatever_filename.html Full URLs space-delimitered from any Link Text]</nowiki></code> where such things as underlines (<code>&amp;</code> reserved-character escaping!) needs quite so much strict honouring at all.)
 Not worth revising all of what you're building up, but if you're making future changes (or ever decide to copy and paste it elsewhere), you might want to try transitioning some/all. Then check the Preview, to make sure you haven't mixed up <code><nowiki>[external_page blah text]</nowiki></code>, <code><nowiki>[[internalised page|blah text]]</nowiki></code> and <code><nowiki>{{w|Wiki Page Title#Optional section|blah text}}</nowiki></code> formats!
 There's also similarly templated {{template|wiktionary}} and {{template|tvtropes}}, amongst others, should you need them. Used right, they make the page source that little nicer to review and keep correct, I find. YMMV. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.91.152|172.70.91.152]] 10:20, 12 May 2023 (UTC)
:Thanks, I've tried the {{template|w}}-template once, but it didn't seem to work (maybe I've made some trivial mistake), so I switched to another method. Will try again.
::Quick way, if you have the Wiki page that you broadly want already open:
::* Select and copy the main page header/title, e.g. "Leonhard Euler"
::* Put it in the "x" position of "<nowiki>{{w|x}}</nowiki>" ('w' template, told to go to 'x'), to produce {{w|Leonhard Euler}}
::* Optionally add second pipe-separator to add link text where "y" is in "<nowiki>{{w|x|y}}</nowiki>", to produce {{w|Leonhard Euler|a link by other text}}
::* Always a good idea to Preview the edit, and (if you think necessary) follow the nicely-looking/working-looking link (as a new tab/whatever, so you can then come back and Save Changes without fuss) to make sure. I occasionally make stupid errors. Like forgetting the vital "w|" part!
::If you don't have the page already open, but are vaguely sure you have the right idea for a link:
::* Do a "<nowiki>{{w|x}}</nowiki>" (or with "|y" text added) for your chosen "x", e.g. "Euler"
::* Preview it, as above, and follow link as new tab.
::* If you find that it's wrong (not found, entirely wrong thing), vague (sent to disambiguation page) or redirected (''"Euler" redirects here. For other uses, see Euler (disambiguation)'') then you can now find the exact right page, if you're not re-landed there already, and copy that page's title to paste in and rePreview/refollow unless you're happy that you made it good.
::*In this case, it would be a case of "Euler"->"Leonhard Euler", and you ''can'' leave it (if you're happy it does what you need), but there's nothing lost by pasting in the end-point title, usually.
::**People tend to change jump-to-redirect links to jump-to-redirected ones, if they find one; could not have been redirect->redirected link when first authored, even.
::If I want a subsection-anchor link, it takes a bit more thought. And there may be better ways of doing it, but I personally do this:
::* Go to the page I want (straight off new tab, or via intermediate Preview)
::* Look at the Contents section
::* Click on the section/subsection I desire, e.g. under "Contributions to mathematics and physics" the "Physics, astronomy, and engineering" subsection
::** I almost certainly then ''could'' just copy the (sub)header concerned and add it as an #anchor to the "|x|" bit (and might even directly need to if there ''is no'' Table Of Contents, but section headers), but occasionally this isn't quite right, so instead..
::* Copy the address-bar you get (in this case https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler#Physics,_astronomy,_and_engineering is what I got)
::* Put it into the "|x| bit.
::* Strip it down to just the "title#subtitle" bit, e.g. "Leonhard_Euler#Physics,_astronomy,_and_engineering"
::* Optionally (or at least it is if you already have a "|y" replacement text bit, otherwise it's advisable to do, ''or'' [https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=2637:_Roman_Numerals&curid=25387&diff=312758&oldid=310491 supply a 'copycat' "|y"] that looks more right...) change the underlines to spaces, and possibly replace other 'websafe' encodings with their valid 'normal' characters
::* You now have a link like {{w|Leonhard Euler#Physics, astronomy, and engineering}}, which may or may not be sufficiently demonstrable, or perhaps you'd prefer it {{w|Leonhard Euler#Physics, astronomy, and engineering|with the link text changed}}...
::** Note that following either of ''those'' links give the revised 'websafe' URL of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonhard_Euler#Physics.2C_astronomy.2C_and_engineering with the ".2C"-websafing applied on top, another level of meta-encoding you can edit down, if you somehow have accumulated
::* Obviously do a final test Preview and test New Tab if you're not both confident ''and'' in a rush (which is often when I make big errors that someone else has to correct!)
::...But this is just my own way of keeping myself (usually) on the right road for an edit.
::As long as I remember it's [] for a URL (with optional space+alt text), [[]] for a ''usually'' internal wikilink (with optional pipe+alt text) and {{}} to invoke a template 'shortcut' container, e.g. the "w" one with pipe+title[#etc] (and optional pipe+alt text).
::Also, <code><nowiki>{{w|link}}s</nowiki></code> (like the <code><nowiki>[[longer:link]]s</nowiki></code> it shortcuts), and possibly some other like variations, behaves like the more long-hanx <code><nowiki>{{w|link|Links}}</nowiki></code>, by various forms of wikimedia-magyck. Makes no difference to the page output, how you do it, but if you like a certain style of readability in the edit-level page source then it might be something you'll be happy to adopt.
::HTH, and obviously there are probably other opinions, but this is just my own personal boiling down of the options available! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.101|172.70.90.101]] 15:41, 12 May 2023 (UTC)

== Terrible spam attack on your user page ==

Recently, there has been a whole lot of spam on your user page. Would you mind asking the moderator to semi-protect your page? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.154.229|172.71.154.229]] 22:54, 13 May 2023 (UTC)
:??? You can't be serious. (Look, Malgond, whatever you think. But I thought that virtually all that was posted there was by you (unlogged in), perhaps some others edited inspired by you, as IPs. If missed any "spamdals" in any way 'ruining' the page, it's because it got cleaned up fairly quickly. Which is how things tend to work round here.) [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.153|172.70.86.153]] 08:11, 14 May 2023 (UTC)

User talk:ClassicalGames

2023-05-11T03:28:32Z

172.70.86.153: Revert childishness

You can create pages.

I've changed my password for you. [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 23:00, 8 May 2023 (UTC)

:Thank you. You can change your password back and continue to use your own computer. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 07:28, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

::As a computer security professional, can I just internally scream at this whole premise of a scenario? If it's even a real premise. I'm not convinced. But bad practice, regardless. And even more bad to publicly announce such things when you would clearly have had another more private back-channel (or even in-person chat) that you used to coordinate the initial request through, without then 'going public' with such inanities. You're liable to being modded out of existence, in some places, for even suggesting that you're sharing accounts.
::Look, kids, whatever you want to do in the privacy of your own server-rooms (whether with a 'friend' or even on your own) is all well and good, but the message should be to ''always'' practice Safe Hex. And "oral hex" doesn't mean that you have to indiscretely talk about it afterwards! [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.172|172.71.242.172]] 12:34, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

:: Done! [[User:ChristmasGospel|ChristmasGospel]] ([[User talk:ChristmasGospel|talk]]) 22:54, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

25: Barrel - Part 4

2023-05-09T12:52:47Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */ ...as per

{{comic
| number = 25
| date = October 31, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 4
| image = barrel_part_4.jpg
| titletext = :(
}}

== Explanation ==
In the first three comics of the [[:Category:Barrel|Barrel series]], the character explored the ocean in a barrel and then encountered a whirlpool, all with a reaction of innocent wonder. Here, the empty barrel floating adrift, plus the title text and a previous announcement by Randall that this would be the conclusion of barrel boy's story, imply that the character's encounter with the whirlpool separated him from the barrel, and he may have come to some harm.

This is the fifth in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features a [[:Category:Barrel|character]] who is not consistent with what would quickly become the [[xkcd]] [[stick figure]] style. The character was in the barrel in parts 1-3.

After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on xkcd, it has been clear that the original [[Ferret]] story should also be included as part of the barrel series.

The full series can be found [[:Category:Barrel|here]]. But below they are listed in the order Randall has put them in his collection linked to above:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

== Transcript ==
:[The barrel is shown on a grid paper background, floating sideways and empty in a choppy sea.]

==Trivia==
*This was the 26th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[37: Hyphen]].
**The next was [[26: Fourier]].
*The original title of this comic was "Monday's Drawing".
*There were no original [[Randall]] quote for this comic.
**However, three hours after posting the comic, he made a new post with the following statement:
:::'''''Barrel series'''''
:::By the way, here are all the barrel comics on a single (easily linked) page:
:::[https://web.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html] [This is an archived version of the page. The original link is dead. This text is not included in the statement.]
:::I cheated, and went back and lightened the gridlines in #2. It was just bothering me. I'll try not to do that much. But as I'm not destroying anyone's childhood, I don't feel like I'm really pulling a George Lucas.
:::I mean, I'm not destroying more than one childhood.
:::Oops.
*Since this was not (as he stated in the [[37: Hyphen#Trivia|previous comic]]) the last in the [[:Category:Barrel|barrel series]], the last comic must later have been included.
**Since this last barrel comic [[31: Barrel - Part 5]] involved the [[:Category:Ferret|ferret]], the previous ferret story [[20: Ferret]] must also have been included then.
**Thus making the original ferret a "real" part of the barrel story.
**Randall also confesses that he changed the appearance of the 2nd Barrel comic.
***At this time, that must have referred to the one called [[11: Barrel - Part 2]], although Randall in the page above has moved this to after the first ferret comic.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explains why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 26]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Barrel|05]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 05]]

1: Barrel - Part 1

2023-05-09T12:50:00Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */ as per...

{{comic
| number = 1
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 1
| image = barrel_cropped_(1).jpg
| titletext = Don't we all.
}}

==Explanation==
This is the first comic in the [[:Category:Barrel|Barrel series]], which shows a young boy floating in a barrel in an ocean that doesn't have a visible end. It comments on the unlikely optimism and perhaps naïveté people sometimes display. The boy is completely lost and seems hopelessly alone, without any plan or control of the situation. Yet, rather than afraid or worried, he is instead quietly curious: "I wonder where I'll float next?" Although not necessarily the situation in this comic, this is a behavior people often exhibit when there is nothing they can do about a problematic situation for a long time; they may have given up hope or developed a cavalier attitude as a coping mechanism.

The title text expands on the philosophical content, with the boy representing the average human being: wandering through life with no real plan, quietly optimistic, always opportunistic and clueless as to what the future may hold.

The isolation of the boy may also represent the way in which we often feel lost through life, never knowing quite where we are, believing that there is no one to whom to turn. This comic could also reflect on Randall's feelings towards creating xkcd in the first place; unsure of what direction the web comic would turn towards, but hopeful that it would eventually become the popular web comic that we know today.

This is the first in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features a [[:Category:Barrel|character]] that is not consistent with what would quickly become the [[xkcd]] [[stick figure]] style.

The full series can be found [[:Category:Barrel|here]]. They are listed below in the order Randall chose for the short story above:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on xkcd, it has been clear that the original [[Ferret]] story should also be included as part of the barrel series.

In [[1110: Click and Drag]] there is a reference to this comic at {{1110|1|n|48|e}}.

==Transcript==
:[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: i wonder where i'll float next?

:[A smaller frame with a zoom out of the boy in the barrel seen from afar. The barrel drifts into the distance. Nothing else can be seen.]

==Trivia==
*This was the 5th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous comic was [[2: Petit Trees (sketch)]].
**The next was [[24: Godel, Escher, Kurt Halsey]].
*The original title was "Barrel".
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "He's fairly upbeat about the situation!"
*This was one of the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|thirteen first comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on Friday September 30, 2005.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*This is the first of the original drawings that was not drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*A more realistic description of the behavior of a barrel in water is here: [http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/12/should-dwarves-stand-up-in-floating-barrels/ Wired Science: Should Dwarves Stand Up in Floating Barrels?]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 05]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 05]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Barrel|01]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 01]]
[[Category:Philosophy]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

11: Barrel - Part 2

2023-05-09T12:48:40Z

172.70.86.153: Standard disambiguity (even though there's a redirect currently in place)

{{comic
| number = 11
| date = September 30, 2005
| title = Barrel - Part 2
| image = barrel mommies.jpg
| titletext = Awww.
}}

==Explanation==
Like in the previous comic in the [[Category:Barrel|Barrel series]], the boy is floating in the ocean in a barrel. The previous comic made a point about the uncertainty of life; here, the boy's lament at not finding a mother is pure sentimentality, as accentuated by the title text.

According to Freud, the first stage of psycho-sexual development is the Oral Stage, which relates to a baby's relationship with its mother. The realization that 'mommy' cannot be found is the first point at which a person learns to stop trusting the world and realizes that the world is not always comforting and safe.

This is the second in a six-part series of comics whose parts were randomly published during the first several dozen strips. The series features a [[:Category:Barrel|character]] that is not consistent with what would quickly become the [[xkcd]] [[stick figure]] style. The character is in a barrel.

After Randall released the full [http://liveweb.archive.org/web/20070207052159/http://www.xkcd.com/barrel.html The Boy and his Barrel] story on xkcd, it has been clear that the original [[Ferret]] story should also be included as part of the barrel series.

The full series can be found [[:Category:Barrel|here]]. But below they are listed in the order Randall has put them in his collection linked to above:
* [[1: Barrel - Part 1]]
* [[20: Ferret]]
* [[11: Barrel - Part 2]]
* [[22: Barrel - Part 3]]
* [[25: Barrel - Part 4]]
* [[31: Barrel - Part 5]]

==Transcript==
:[A boy sits in a barrel which is floating in an ocean.]
:Boy: none of the places i floated had mommies.

==Trivia==
*This was the 13th comic originally posted to [[LiveJournal]].
**The previous was [[14: Copyright]].
**The next was [[15: Just Alerting You]].
*This comic kept it's original title: "Barrel - Part 2 "
*Original [[Randall]] quote: "The story continues."
*This was one of the [[:Category:First day on LiveJournal|thirteen first comics]] posted to LiveJournal within 12 minutes on Friday September 30, 2005.
*This comic was posted on [[xkcd]] when the web site opened on Sunday the 1st of January 2006.
**It was posted along [[:Category:First day on xkcd|with all 41 comics]] posted before that on LiveJournal as well as a few others.
**The latter explaining why the numbers of these 41 LiveJournal comics ranges from 1-44.
*One of the original drawings drawn on [[:Category:Checkered paper|checkered paper]].
*The drawing style is very reminiscent of the {{w|The Little Prince|Little Prince}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics posted on livejournal| 13]]
[[Category:First day on LiveJournal| 13]]
[[Category:First day on xkcd]]
[[Category:Checkered paper]]
[[Category:Barrel|03]]
[[Category:Comics sharing name|Barrel 02]]
[[Category:Comics with lowercase text]]

Talk:2771: College Knowledge

2023-05-09T12:14:35Z

172.70.86.153:

Did anyone else learn today that "chitin" rhymes with Triton? (I've always pronounced it chitten, like a chewy kitten, but apparently it's kai-ten!) College Knowledge? More like webcomic knowledge! [[User:Mathmannix|Mathmannix]] ([[User talk:Mathmannix|talk]]) 10:51, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
:Well, if you pronounce it "Tritin", it rhymes. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 18:14, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
:I'm not sure that's correct, when I read this comic my head just used the "chewy kitten" pronunciation, and pronounced Triton shortly, like Tritin. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:22, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
::Trit'n, rather, I'd say. Yup. Not being English-speak-native, the chronicles tell often on how I learned the language by reading - fantastic vocabulary, spelling, and grammar, rather messy pronunciation. Nowadays, I am working my way through Koyne Greek with the same method. Having learned my lesson (dubious - discuss), I strove to learn pronunciation from modern sources, that indicate that what they found regarding funny pronunciation for otherwise clear written text, they did by studying rhymes of the corresponding period. Much fun to be had [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.139|162.158.158.139]] 17:28, 7 May 2023 (UTC)

Rather than giving up because "their justifications for each visit become increasingly tenuous," I read the comic as indicating greater and greater complexity in scansion, which leads to increased difficulty in jumping rope, so the point where Ponytail is no longer able to meet the physical challenge, hence her giving up. I do feel like I'm missing something as to the ellipses and the meter in the 4th panel, though. [[User:JohnHawkinson|JohnHawkinson]] ([[User talk:JohnHawkinson|talk]]) 12:36, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
:I think the ellipses are the chanter pausing to think of another heavenly body and what to rhyme it with. But usually the chants are already established and everyone says them in unison -- it's hard to do extemporaneous patter in unison. [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 13:38, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
::One thing that bugs me about this site, seeing uncertainty in the weirdest most inappropriate places, LOL! Sorry, there is no question, the final panel is simply that they're struggling to keep rhyming using this scheme, that's it. That's what the ellipsis indicates, delays while reaching for a word. NOTHING about physical difficulty. Note that they ''AREN'T'' chanting together, they're going one at a time. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:22, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
:Betelgeuse only rhymes with Pamplemousse if you mispronounce both ... [[Special:Contributions/141.101.98.8|141.101.98.8]] 13:41, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
:: You only have to mispronounce one, but you have to mispronounce it very badly. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.30.96|172.71.30.96]] 15:04, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
::Theoretically, anything could rhyme with anything else if you mispronounce one or both words sufficiently poorly... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.126.141|172.70.126.141]] 17:02, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
::Yeah...but I think final-syllable rhymes are OK, aren't they? Like, if you chanted "You drink grapefruit juice - it makes your bowels loose", that would be fine. Well, it wouldn't, but as a rhyme it would. So "-geuse" rhymed with "mousse" is fine - the "betel-" and "pample-" needn't trouble us. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 18:10, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
:::-mousse pronounced in the French way (with stress on the final e) does not rhyme with any of the ways to pronounce --geuse - Either Gerse or Jooose ... [[Special:Contributions/172.70.90.252|172.70.90.252]] 20:20, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
::::There isn't 'a French way' to pronounce it - sometimes it will sound like the English 'moose', sometimes with an elongated 's', sometimes with a pronounced 'e' (like 'Moussa') - all depends on the speaker, and sometimes the register, or what word happens to follow it....[[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.169|172.70.85.169]] 14:54, 5 May 2023 (UTC)
::::That is ''NOT'' the french way, I'm born, raised, and live surrounded by french and I have no idea how you even would "stress on the final 'e'", I just know that's incorrect. The second half of "pamplemousse" is just simply how we say "moose", that's it, that's the french pronunciation, don't try to complicate it. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:22, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
::You don't have to mispronounce either. ??? Last I knew, Betelgeuse is pronounced like the Tim Burton movie, Beetlejuice (maybe more "Bay-tle"). So, ending in "juice". "Pamplemousse" ends in "moose", identical to the animal. "Juice" rhymes with "moose" just fine. I mean, I've rarely heard "Bay-tel-guise", but it seems like "juice" is the correct one. It's the one Randall is using, anyway. [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:22, 6 May 2023 (UTC)

"Girls go to Mercury, to build more funiculæ; boys go to Betelgeuse, to cut down their metal use..." [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.136|172.71.178.136]] 12:56, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

:I initially read that as "mental" and that fits with the theme, too. [[Special:Contributions/108.162.238.162|108.162.238.162]] 13:06, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
: Girls go to OGLE-2016-BLG-1850L b to... er...[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.187|172.71.178.187]] 14:59, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

The ellipses help to show that they're improvising the verses in real time. There are better rhymes for Mercury (e.g., "Marie Curie" instead of "Tim Berners-Lee"), but the players are finding it progressively harder to come up with them. [[User:Gmcgath|Gmcgath]] ([[User talk:Gmcgath|talk]]) 15:27, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
::Neither of those names are a great rhyme, but Marie Curie is worlds worse than Tim Berners-Lee. Unless Americans tend to pronounce it "ma REE-keree" and that somehow hasn't made it across the Atlantic. The emphasis is wrong for Tim Berners-Lee too, obviously, but at least his name has the right sounds in it.[[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 18:04, 4 May 2023 (UTC)
:::As a DC area American, I pronounce them "Mir-cure-ree" and "Muh-ree cure-ree" which rhyme pretty okay [[Special:Contributions/172.69.70.109|172.69.70.109]] 14:36, 5 May 2023 (UTC)Bumpf
:::Every time I've heard it, Marie Curie's names rhyme with each other, both ending in a "REE" sound. "cury" in Mercury is "cure-y". As such, Curie and Mercury rhyme so much, it's nearly the same sound (just slightly different on the U). [[User:NiceGuy1|NiceGuy1]] ([[User talk:NiceGuy1|talk]]) 04:40, 6 May 2023 (UTC)
::::Ah. There's the issue. Her first name is pronounced "marry" - like what you do at a wedding. Imagine someone called "Barry Fury". Her name rhymes with that. With that in mind then, try rhyming "more mercury" with "Barry Fury". Then try rhyming it with "Tim Berners-Lee".

::::"MERcury" is a better rhyme for "Berners-LEE", despite the syllable emphasis problem, than it is for "rie CURie". Rhythmically, "Berners-Lee" copes with being distorted into first-syllable emphasis ("BERners-lee") better than "...rie Curie" does. [[User:Yorkshire Pudding|Yorkshire Pudding]] ([[User talk:Yorkshire Pudding|talk]]) 23:38, 8 May 2023 (UTC)
:::::Now, I sort of tend to go for "Tim BERNers-Lee", as it happens. (In fact, imagine a placename of "Burnesleigh"(/-lea/-ley). One more inserted "-ez-" half syallable there than "Burnley", "Bingley" or "Barnsley" have, in terms you might appreciate from their (near-)Yorkshireness. In fact, I'd readily rhyme those three with his name. Slight fudge of the scansion, to accomodate the "ers", perhaps some vowel-shift (most adrift being the "a" in the latter). "Girls go to Burnley to meet Tim Berners-Lee" is a stretch, still, but probably more because (half-skipped extra element aside), it's more a repetition than a rhyme. Possibly a John Cooper-Clarke sort of rhyme (to name just one afficionado of the deliberately strained counter-culture/comedic form of poetry that this might sit in).
:::::For "Mercury", I think the biggest problem is the disconsonance of the hard C vs the softer N. And Marie Curie fits that but falls down on the syllabic count and (as you point out) the 'high-A' of "marry" being adrift from the low-U ("murk"? "Murkle"? ...rhyme it with "work, you 'ree'"?)
:::::Though this is from the perspective of the accent that is mine (and/or that is thine, maybe not that much different, though ''we'' might certainly notice, as sure as a thee-thar can distinguish themselves from a dee-dar!), and vowel-shifts are just one element of what Randall might envisage in his head, from his actual personal Pennsylvania/Virginia upbringing and how the schoolyard voices might easily accomodate this non-universal 'rhyme'. Imagine all kinds of other accents (e.g. a Kiwi!), and various modes of assonance and dissonance might well phase in and out, etc. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.153|172.70.86.153]] 12:14, 9 May 2023 (UTC)

Does the fact that Randall hates grapefruit have anything to do with the ending? Because pamplemousse can mean grapefruit
[[Special:Contributions/172.71.182.47|172.71.182.47]] 19:19, 4 May 2023 (UTC)

The rhyme my daughters came home from school with (30 years ago): "Girls go to Mars to get more bras" {{unsigned|108.162.249.4|11:39, 5 May 2023}}

During a general edit, I momentarily undid some other edit about "jump rope" (a.k.a. "skipping" in UK parlance - I know US has its own term, not sure which/what version is most used in rest of anglophone world) whilst not yet seeing which bits I was trampling on in resolving my own Edit Conflict notice, so did a favour on reinstating that bit by adding a wikilink. ("Skipping rope", as main title, a case where Rightpondian got there first. :P ) But though the intro ''mentions'' non-solo skipping, it has far more attention paid to the solo activity, and all its variations. I'm sure there's a better link out there (anthropological study of typical playground games, maybe?) for the group activity. Might be worth a link to that, instead or alongside. Or someone could vastly improve the target wiki article and then perhaps #anchor the cooperative version in the link, but that's probably a lot more work. ;) [[Special:Contributions/141.101.99.97|141.101.99.97]] 13:03, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

Science Girl may just be more proficient in astronomy (being true to her 'name') than extemporised poetry, causing the activity to fizzle out, but we can't really tell if this is her first (or last!) invitation to participate in the schoolyard game. (Half inclined to add this to the Explanation, but quite a lot of unknown factors, so it won't add much to be so vague.) [[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.207|172.71.178.207]] 14:46, 5 May 2023 (UTC)

1202: Girls and Boys

2023-05-04T08:23:10Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */

{{comic
| number = 1202
| date = April 22, 2013
| title = Girls and Boys
| image = girls and boys.png
| titletext = To get more knowledge
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is a play on the popular [https://onsizzle.com/i/girls-go-to-college-to-get-more-knowledge-boys-go-1121310 school-yard taunt], "Girls go to college, to get more knowledge; boys go to Jupiter, to get more stupider," also commonly heard as "Boys go to Mars, to get more candy bars; girls go to Jupiter, to get more stupider." The words "boys" and "girls" may be interchanged, depending on the gender of the person chanting (or how intelligent they are, for that matter). The schoolyard taunt embodies the competitiveness and separation commonly seen between young boys and girls, and ideas about the superiority of one's gender.

It should be noted that, historically, most higher education was preferentially or exclusively reserved for men, but that changed rapidly over the course of the 20th century. By the late 1970s more women than men were enrolling in college, and that trend has only increased, to the point where women make up nearly 60% of undergraduate students in American colleges and universities. This is an issue of substantial concern, because it reflects national trends in men failing to achieve academically. This comic may be pointing out that this gendered competition, which is often inculcated from an early age, is counter-productive, because it focuses on one gender succeeding at the expense of the other. In truth, human achievement is maximized when both men and women are given opportunities to gain skills and succeed.

The comic subverts the original rhyme by having both girls ([[Megan]]) and boys ([[Cueball]]) go to college to gain knowledge, and then using that knowledge to go to {{w|Jupiter}} as part of a {{w|space program}}, working in cooperation with other men (another Cueball-like guy) and women ([[Ponytail]]).

Going "to Jupiter, to get more stupider" is ironic considering that human beings have not yet even gone to Mars, so to go to Jupiter would take a huge amount of knowledge, investment, and further development of current technology. Likewise, people in space programs going to Jupiter would have advanced degrees, a great deal of knowledge, and a motivation to seek out more knowledge. Space programs and going to Jupiter would require the cooperation of many different people, men and women included, and probably even different countries, rather than the divisive atmosphere of the schoolyard.

The title text points out that by going to Jupiter you would ''get more knowledge'', which is generally the purpose of any space program; that is, the purpose is to advance science, and it wouldn't actually be dumb at all. Therefore, the task of going to Jupiter is absolutely dependent on going to college, cooperation, and getting more knowledge; entirely the opposite of what the schoolyard taunt suggests.

==Transcript==
:[Megan facing left is sitting on a stool at a table while studying. She is bent over her paper writing on it, while her laptop is standing open on top of two books lying in front of her. In front of her, just inside the panel to the left is the back and neck of another student sitting on a chair visible, with only the rear leg and back of the chair shown. Behind her just inside the panel to the right is the front end of another table, one leg visible, and here lies a pile of paper, as tall as the two books. Two frames above Megan narrates the poem:]
:Girls go to college
:To get more knowledge

:[Cueball facing right, is sitting on a chair at a table also studying. He is holding a piece of paper up in one hand head turned toward it. His other hand holds a page, with text shown as thin lines, in the open book lying in front of him. His laptop is standing open behind the book. In front of him, just inside the panel to the right is the back and arms of another student sitting on a chair visible, with only the rear leg and back of the chair shown. Behind him just inside the panel to the left is the front end of another table, one leg visible, and here lies a pile of four books. Two frames above Cueball narrates the poem:]
:Boys go to college
:To get more knowledge

:[Space launch control room with Megan and Cueball standing in the middle of the room working together. Megan sitting behind a table with a rectangular item on top, holds a model of the capsule that goes on the top of a space craft in her hand pointing to it with the other hand while Cueball standing to the right gestures at the model as well. To the left sits Ponytail in an office chair, she is wearing a head-set and sits in front of screen, just inside the panel, she seems to be controlling something, but no keyboard is visitable. Above her is another screen attached to the wall (off-panel). On the right there sits a Cueball-like guy on a chair, who is also working on some screen, which is mainly off-panel as is the front of his head. On the wall behind there hangs two pictures. The first shows the curve of a white planet against black space, two continents or clouds visible. There is an insert in the top left corner with a small drawing, and some text or number (unreadable) in the top right corner. The other picture seems to show a space craft with two large solar panels, white on the black black background of space. Has some similarities to the international space station. There are four white lines representing text labels pointing to different parts. One frame at the top narrates the poem:]
:Girls and boys

:[A large gray rocket with two lifter rockets, one on each side, launch into the black night, rising up with white fire out the end on top of a huge pile of gray exhaust smoke, that billows out filling the entire width at the ground level, where gray lines stars out on the black ground. A white rectangle right above the tip of the rocket narrates the poem (which first ends in the title text):]
:Go to Jupiter

==Trivia==

Going to Jupiter was most famously explored in the film {{w|2001: A Space Odyssey (film)|2001}} and its sequel {{w|2010: Odyssey Two|2010}}, where a space ship lands on the moon {{w|Europa (moon)|Europa}}. The film {{w|Outland (film)|Outland}} is set on a mining operation on Jupiter's moon {{w|Io (moon)|Io}}.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
[[Category:Science]]
[[Category:Space]]

2770: Tapetum Lucidum

2023-05-01T12:44:20Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */ Adding a multiplayer 'Asteroids'; lessening Asteroids itself, as it has no walls or triangular opponents; Adding links; Doubting "most famous" (perhaps it's famous enough, but there's a host of other prior sources, e.g. Clancy)

{{comic
| number = 2770
| date = May 1, 2023
| title = Tapetum Lucidum
| image = tapetum_lucidum_2x.png
| imagesize = 412x492px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Using a reflective wall in a game to give one shot two chances to hit is called a double-tapetum lucidum.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by BILL NYE'S CAT - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
Bill Nye, wearing the same lab coat as in [[200: Bill Nye]], beats Cueball in an online multiplayer game somewhat resembling {{w|Asteroids (video game)|Asteroids}} or in the vein of {{w|XPilot}}. The whole time, he recounts a scientific fact about light reflection (relevant to the lasers in this game), as though to gloat by multitasking.

In this comic, two small ships battle in a space littered with angled walls. Each ship blasts at the other as Newtonian physics propels it forward, unless rotation or playing environment effectsslow its course.

The title text refers to "tapetum lucidum" and uses "double tap" in the way that online games, memes, and films refer to shooting something twice in rapid succession to ensure its demise. This phrase is famously{{Actual citation needed}} used in the film "Zombieland," and is the subtitle of the 2019 "Zombieland: Double Tap" sequel.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
:Ship 1: Cats have a shiny layer behind their retina called the tapetum lucidum.
:SFX: Pew pew pew

:Ship 1: After light passes through the retina, this layer reflects it back through a second time.
:SFX: Pew pew

:[Ship 1 defeats Ship 2.]
:Ship 1: This extra bounce gives photons another chance to interact with the retinal cells...
:SFX: BOOM!

:[Bill Nye, in a labcoat, at a computer.]
:Bill Nye: ...improving their night vision! Isn't science cool?
:Caption: There's something extra infuriating about losing online games to Bill Nye.

{{comic discussion}}

2359: Evidence of Alien Life

2023-04-27T08:26:11Z

172.70.86.153: Added appropriate [citation needed]

{{comic
| number = 2359
| date = September 14, 2020
| title = Evidence of Alien Life
| image = evidence_of_alien_life.png
| titletext = Both too cautious AND not cautious enough: "I'm skeptical that those are aliens, so I'm going to try pulling off their masks."
}}

==Explanation==

This comic depicts a table of possible responses to new information on the possibility of alien life. It is presented in table form, with the columns representing three categories of reaction to new evidence, and the rows representing the strength of new evidence, increasing down the table. Each intersection then shows a small scenario of what the response would be. The left and right-hand column scenarios are hyperbolic in either their acceptance or denial. The center column represents a reasonable course of action{{citation needed}}.

This comic was a reaction to [https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/14/science/venus-life-clouds.html the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus], which is where Ponytail's "V" figure in the second row comes from (a representation of the phosphine absorption feature). {{w|Phosphine}} is a molecule whose presence in the Venusian atmosphere came as a surprise. Light breaks phosphine down, meaning something must be producing it. However, there is no known abiotic mechanism on Venus that would produce the gas in the quantities observed. The phosphine could therefore be a sign of life on Venus, but more evidence is needed. Venus was also an unexpected place to find a possible sign of life — although it was {{w|Venus in fiction|a common pulp fiction setting in the early 20th-century}}, the arrival of the space probe era dashed hopes that the hidden surface might be, say, an exotic jungle (one of the more common pulp-fiction concepts). More recent efforts at finding life in the Solar System have mostly focused on Mars and various ice moons with suspected {{w|Ocean#Natural_satellites|subsurface oceans}}, but life more-or-less as we know it could exist within the upper atmosphere of Venus, which has more Earth-like conditions than the surface. However, while the discovery of phosphine is interesting, it is not nearly enough evidence to claim that "life has been found" on Venus, and likewise, it is comically understated to refer to the paper as "evidence of molecules" in Venus's atmosphere.

The title text refers to an action which is simultaneously too cautious and not cautious enough: the speaker is skeptical that aliens exist, which is usually an appropriate belief, except that presumably Megan and Cueball are in the situation presented in the bottom row, where aliens have landed right in front of them. Rather than modifying his belief (presumably it's Cueball, who was the one to approach the aliens in the other panels), he expresses an intention to approach the alleged aliens and attempt to remove their masks. He believes that he will expose a human wearing a costume, perpetrating a {{tvtropes|ScoobyDooHoax|"Scooby-Doo"-style hoax}}, but no matter what the outcome is, he's acting rashly. If the beings before him are aliens, he will be initiating a very aggressive first contact and will likely receive a violent response, and even if the alien is not violent, Cueball might end up removing an environmental apparatus that is protecting it from Earth's environment (or vice versa). On the other hand, even if the "aliens" really are fakes, Cueball might end up injuring someone who is just playing a harmless joke (and who'd want to keep ''some'' kind of mask on to reduce the spread of {{w|COVID-19}}).

===Description of responses===
In the first row, an asteroid looks like an "alien probe". The "least cautious" response immediately jumps to the conclusion that the asteroid '''is''' an alien probe. The "too cautious" response simply ignores the possible implications of the asteroid and instead diverts either into a {{w|I know that I know nothing|Socratic assertion}} or some other less relevent form of [https://youtu.be/vh5kZ4uIUC0 philosophical doubt], while the "appropriately cautious" response seeks to discover more pertinent information about the asteroid. Some humor is derived from the "appropriately cautious" response including a firm and unambiguous "it's not aliens".

The "alien probe" asteroid refers to {{w|'Oumuamua}}, which passed through the Solar System in 2017. 'Oumuamua's {{w|trajectory|hyperbolic trajectory}} indicated interstellar origin. Because of the unusual elongated shape suggested by its {{w|albedo}} (the object was never visualized as more than a point source of light) and indications of a slight non-gravity related acceleration, there were many wild speculations about 'Oumuamua's origin, including it being an alien probe similar to the one presented in the science fiction classic {{w|Rendezvous_with_Rama|Rendezvous with Rama}}. The image of an astronomer looking through a telescope and being alarmed by seeing "something huge" which is actually very small and very close is [https://www.shutterstock.com/image-vector/men-pleased-fake-ufo-293395676 an old comic gag], but the difference in parallax would immediately distinguish a close asteroid from a far one.

The second row refers to the discovery of phosphine gas on Venus, with the "least cautious" response to simply conclude that there '''is''' life on Venus. The "appropriately cautious" and "too cautious" responses provide more general conclusions about "molecules" on Venus, with the latter adding nothing at all to our understanding.

In the final row, aliens have arrived on Earth. The insufficiently cautious approach is to immediately hug them. Cueball might make a new friend, but he might also be mistaken as an attacker, or perhaps the aliens are {{tvtropes|ToServeMan|intending to make a meal}} of whoever approaches them. The more responsible approach is to (consider attempting to) communicate at a distance. In the final panel, the United Nations building is being vaporized by energy beams. This is technically "just" a "possible biosignature", as there are abiotic stellar events that produce energetic beams (although those are usually the size of planets or stars rather than buildings) and the beams could also be {{w|The Pink Panther Strikes Again|of human origin}}, but debating such semantics in the face of such destructive power seems excessively pedantic. For that matter, even though that panel is presented as "too cautious", it's only "too cautious" in the sense of "discussing the possibility of alien life"; Megan and Cueball are showing extreme ''lack'' of caution by remaining in the vicinity of an alien attack.

The destruction of human governmental buildings is a common trope in science fiction films, as a way of aliens removing the ability of humanity to co-ordinate a response to an attack. The United Nations building is [https://nypost.com/2017/12/11/former-uk-official-reveals-plan-in-case-of-alien-invasion/ allegedly] the co-ordination centre for a worldwide response to an extraterrestrial incursion. However, since popular culture in the USA currently doesn't pay much attention to the United Nations, in American movies it is more commonly the White House or larger cities like New York or Los Angeles that get blown up by aliens. (While the United Nations Secretariat Building is ''in'' New York, it would be a general destruction of the area and only notable cultural landmarks – perhaps the Empire State Building or Chrysler Building – or the general financial/commercial/social disruption are more likely to be dwelt upon in detail.)

==Transcript==

:[The comic is laid out like a 3 by 3 grid, with the amount of evidence down the left-hand side (Weak Evidence of Alien Life/Promising Evidence/Definite Evidence) and the type of reaction across the top (Not Cautious Enough/Appropriately Cautious/Too Cautious). Each box is a combination of the row label and column label.]

::[Row 1: Weak Evidence of Alien Life]
:::[Column 1: Not Cautious Enough]
::::[Cueball is looking through a telescope. There is a long, thin asteroid seen through the telescope, shown on the upper-left hand corner in the panel.]
::::Cueball: This asteroid is probably an alien probe!
:::[Column 2: Appropriately Cautious]
::::[Same scene as before, except the asteroid is omitted.]
::::Cueball: This asteroid is weird and we should take a closer look.
::::Cueball: It's not aliens.
:::[Column 3: Too Cautious]
::::Cueball: This asteroid appears to be far away, but it could also be nearby and just very small.

::[Row 2: Promising Evidence]
:::[Column 1: Not Cautious Enough]
::::[Ponytail runs excitedly to Cueball. She carries a notepad with a V on it.]
::::Ponytail: They found life on Venus!
:::[Column 2: Appropriately Cautious]
::::[Same scene, except Ponytail is simply looking at her notepad.]
::::Ponytail: These molecules might be produced by life, or by weird high-heat chemistry.
:::[Column 3: Too Cautious]
::::[Same scene, except Ponytail's arm is slack by her side.]
::::Ponytail: There is growing evidence that the atmosphere on Venus contains molecules.

::[Row 3: Definite Evidence]
:::[Column 1: Not Cautious Enough]
::::[There is a UFO with two aliens coming out of it. Cueball excitedly runs to the aliens, while Megan waits. There are three UFOs flying in the background.]
::::Cueball: I'm going to go give those aliens a hug!
:::[Column 2: Appropriately Cautious]
::::[Two aliens are on the ground, and the foreground UFO is no longer in the frame. Cueball is talking to Megan. There are three UFOs in the background.]
::::Cueball: Oh wow, aliens!
::::Cueball: Should we try to communicate?
:::[Column 3: Too Cautious]
::::[Three UFOs are shooting beams into the United Nations building, vaporizing it. Cueball and Megan are watching.]
::::Megan: The energy beams vaporizing the United Nations could be a possible biosignature.

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Space]]
[[Category:Aliens]]
[[Category:Charts]]

2768: Definition of e

2023-04-27T08:15:11Z

172.70.86.153: /* Explanation */ Not clear that the title text is said by the teacher

{{comic
| number = 2768
| date = April 26, 2023
| title = Definition of e
| image = definition_of_e_2x.png
| imagesize = 571x186px
| noexpand = true
| titletext = Yeah, my math teacher back in high school set up the system to try to teach us something or other, but the 100% rate was unbelievably good, so I engineered a hostile takeover of his bank and now use it to make extra cash on the side.
}}

==Explanation==
{{incomplete|Created by 2.718 BANKERS - Please change this comment when editing this page. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
The mathematical constant ''{{w|e (mathematical constant)|e}}'' (also known as Euler's constant) is typically demonstrated in terms of compound interest. Here, Miss Lenhart seems to be setting up such an example, but is actually asking her student to deposit money.

The constant ''e'' can be described {{w|E (mathematical constant)#Compound interest|in the context of compound interest}}. For a bank account that pays interest at a rate of 100% per year, and that interest is paid ''n'' times a year and compounded, then a $1 deposit will grow to $1 * (1 + 100%/n)^n after a year. As ''n'' approaches infinity (continuous compounding), the amount approaches ''e'' dollars. In the comic, minutely compounding is used as an approximation of continuous compounding; here ''n'' = 365 * 24 * 60 = 525,600, and the resulting amount would be $2.718279.

As such, one would expect Miss Lenhart to say in panel 4 something like "you'll have ''e'' dollars". But it turns out she's just charging $1 for answering the question of what ''e'' is. The supposed interest rate the teacher can earn off this deposit is so high that the $1 principal will grow to over $22,000 in ten years, $485 million in twenty years, or $10.6 trillion in thirty years.

In the title text, a {{w|Takeover#Hostile|hostile takeover}} is an acquisition of a company against its management's wishes, by simply buying up its shares from its shareholders. A bank offering accounts with an {{w|APY}} of 172% is certain to go bankrupt almost immediately, making it a very bad investment. Banks earn money by lending at a higher rate than they pay on deposits, but it is illegal to charge such high interest rates on loans, and no one would take them anyway. Therefore the bank will lose huge amounts of money on deposits while earning essentially no revenue. The speaker is effectively buying out the bank in order to drain it of its own funds, which is both illegal and financially pointless. Alternatively, their plan may be to buy 51% of the stock, then attempt to extract a majority of the bank's reserve funds through huge high-interest deposits, which is still not profitable, since banks hold only a small fraction of deposits in reserve, and their market capitalizations (the cost of buying all the stock) are much higher than their total reserves. Even if for some reason this bank had a very high reserve ratio, and this tactic could somehow be profitable, it would still be illegal, effectively robbing the other 49% ownership of its equity through deliberately bad management.

==Transcript==
{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}

:[Hairy is seated at a classroom desk, with Miss Lenhart standing in front of him, and a chalkboard behind her.]
:Hairy: Can you explain what the constant ''e'' actually ''means''?
:Miss Lenhart: Sure.

:Miss Lenhart: I have a bank account that pays 100% annual interest, compounded every minute.

:Miss Lenhart: If you deposit $1 now,

:Miss Lenhart: I will answer your question.

[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Miss Lenhart]]
[[Category:Math]]

{{comic discussion}}

Talk:2762: Diffraction Spikes

2023-04-14T20:42:06Z

172.70.86.153:

I tried to make an initial explanation, but then someone beat me to it and I made a fool of myself on the page trying to add a comment where it didn't go. I fixed it, but I am ashamed ;~; [[Special:Contributions/172.69.34.15|172.69.34.15]] 23:31, 12 April 2023 (UTC)
:It's all good. As long as you learn from it, and we learn what useful things you want to say, nothing at all to worry about... All power to your typing fingers! [[Special:Contributions/172.70.85.66|172.70.85.66]] 00:15, 13 April 2023 (UTC)
Exoplanets nevertheless exist because, alongside the visible diffraction spikes that chop them up, there are invisible defraction [sic] spikes that reassemble them. [[Special:Contributions/162.158.158.136|162.158.158.136]] 00:32, 13 April 2023 (UTC)
:Pretty sure gravity causes the pieces to drift back together. [[Special:Contributions/172.69.58.86|172.69.58.86]] 20:33, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

Why does the spike slice the planet instead of the planet breaking the tip off the spike? Are the spikes like enormous light sabers? [[User:Barmar|Barmar]] ([[User talk:Barmar|talk]]) 00:43, 13 April 2023 (UTC)
:The spikes are stellar artifacts of distant observers, with all the mass of the star behind them. The Sun hardly moves much if you dunk the Earth into it, why should the exoplanet move the spike? At best you'd get a similar effect to karate chopping a stream of water from a hose. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.150.175|172.71.150.175]] 04:49, 13 April 2023 (UTC)
::Please stop dunking the Earth into the Sun.[[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.172|172.71.242.172]] 08:11, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
:Adding to 172.71...'s point, the spikes are made of star, so it will be incandescent gas with plasma corona. How do you "break" a gas?

Is it inspired by some movie that features this "spike pointing on some person" effect? I remember seeing one, but I don't seem to remember its name. [[User:Unreliable Connection|2659: Unreliable Connection]] ([[User talk:Unreliable Connection|talk]]) 02:07, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

:This comic also reminded me of fractal images. [[User:Memo Spike Connector|2503: Memo Spike Connector]] ([[User talk:Memo Spike Connector|talk]]) 09:06, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

:Is there also some joke here about double vision (if you cross your eyes you will see two planets), you use lens occlusion to see expolanets? ([[garbled]])) 10:55, 14 April 2023 (UTC+1)

From an edit comment "(Refractor telescopes (using only lenses) don't give refraction spikes, reflector telescopes (using mirrors) do.)". Yeahbut, nobuf... It's just the struts, also mentioned, that are the key. You can build pure-refractor telescopes that still have struts (probably not optimal, but a design option) and therefore spikes. And you can make one with mirrors and ''no'' struts (more complicated and less of a practical shape for most mounting/launching purposes) which would therefore be spikeless. [[Special:Contributions/172.70.162.160|172.70.162.160]] 12:00, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

:Some telescopes get diffraction spikes from the shape of the mirror. The JWST is a notable example of this. --[[Special:Contributions/172.71.178.186|172.71.178.186]] 14:13, 13 April 2023 (UTC)
::It's the sharp, angled edges that provide interference patterns (a set of "one-sided diffractions", rather than two-sided ones around an obstruction). A full round mirror on its own would not produce any spikes. Nor if the light from the edge areas cannot possibly reach the sensors, but that would mean less use of the mirror(s) they took great pains to send up there. And the secondary mirror ''has'' struts (in a Y-shape, I think, for technical reasons), thus why there's two minor spikes (actually six, but four are aligned to be hidden within the major spikes) as well as the hexagon-edge-induced set of six. Which also helps you understand in which orientation (or which two possibilities) the JWST was, in order to make any images you see from it.
::But this is already over-explained, really. You ''can'' design a mirror set to a avoid spikes, but with other technical compromises/etc. And above is correct, in that refractive telescopes can find themselves showing spikes (struts, if so designed, and other internal angles that may intrude into the light-path's edge). [[Special:Contributions/172.71.242.86|172.71.242.86]] 17:27, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

The transcript is very long... Too long : as of now, 2055 characters. That "transcript" section is intended for people who can't see the image (blind people for example), so it should be almost as fast to read as it is for you to look at the comic. There is really no need the exact angles of the diffraction spikes or anything, just a description of what's happening so that we can get the joke. You should not try to write a vectorization of the image, there are automated tools for that. [[Special:Contributions/172.71.122.208|172.71.122.208]] 18:04, 13 April 2023 (UTC)
:The comment speaks to the difficulty of creating a transcription of an image that is meaningful to a person who cannot access the image. It would be good to hear from such folk about this.[[Special:Contributions/172.70.110.215|172.70.110.215]] 22:15, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

Why is the asteroid belt mentioned in the explanation? [[Special:Contributions/172.71.222.129|172.71.222.129]] 19:13, 13 April 2023 (UTC)k
:If "all stars" have diffraction spikes, then there should be no planets around Sol. We exist, so Sol must be an exception to "all stars". But the asteroid belt (chopped-up planet(s)) also exists, so perhaps Sol had diffraction spikes sometime in its history. Yes, there's a real, and satisfactory, explanation for the Solar System's Jovian asteroid belt. But, context.[[Special:Contributions/162.158.154.150|162.158.154.150]] 21:58, 13 April 2023 (UTC)

I guess this refers to a solar storm predicted to go on in 2023, which does great damage to the earth's atmosphere like a spike. [[User:ClassicalGames|ClassicalGames]] ([[User talk:ClassicalGames|talk]]) 06:07, 14 April 2023 (UTC)
:{{Actual citation needed}} ...are you going by solar maxima? The weak 2014 one, and the 9-14 years we can generally get between them, makes 2023 off at the ''earliest'' of expectations... Perhaps 2025 is more likely.
:And we get maybe a few days warning of "a solar storm" (CME) that might happen to come our way. Carrington Events are rare, though, and even when 3+ CMEs a day happen (slightly after sunspot maximum, and up from the low frequency of one every five days), we're such a small target that it's still more or less the same amount of total dumb-luck (15-20x a fraction of a chance with a far greater (negative) order to it). [[Special:Contributions/172.70.86.153|172.70.86.153]] 20:42, 14 April 2023 (UTC)